Who conquered Bolton?

If David Davis is to catch the frontrunner David Cameron before voting in the Conservative leadership race finishes in three weeks' time he needs to outperform his younger rival in the hustings taking place across the country. Last night the two contenders went head to head in Bolton. These debates are closed to the media, so Guardian Unlimited commissioned two Conservative activists from the rival camps to tell us how their man got on.

Jolyon Coombs is the chairman of the Bolton North-East Conservative Association and a David Davis supporter. He writes:

"I am still disappointed that Mr Cameron feels the need to parade the list of people who have expressed support for him. It smacks of encouraging a bandwagon in a party where independence of thought should be the guiding principle. He will always guarantee a round of applause by mentioning William Hague, as he did this evening."

Andrew Stephenson is a Conservative councillor and David Cameron supporter. He writes:

"You couldn't help but notice Mr Davis's comments were pessimistic in tone and talked about what Britain has been in the past, contrasted with Mr Cameron's optimistic vision of Britain's future and our role in the global economy."